The Consumer Product Safety Commission last week denied the bike industrys petition to exclude childrens bikes from a strict new lead law but granted a two-year stay of enforcement, giving manufactures a bit of breathing room to figure out how to best comply with the rule.
The new lead limit, which is prescribed in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, restricts the amount of lead in childrens products to 600 parts per million. Some small bike parts like valve stems, spoke nipples and cable ends exceed that limit, but a toxicology report provided by the BPSA showed the amount of lead in those parts doesnt pose any danger to users.
Acting CPSC chairwoman Nancy Nord said the commission was “compelled to deny the petition because the language of the statute does not give us the flexibility to do otherwise, even though our staff does not believe that lead exposure from using bicycles and related products presents a risk that they would recommend the Commission regulate.”
The Commission extended the enforcement deadline to April 30, 2011. The CPSC granted a similar extension to the ATV/youth motorcycle industry in April.
The extra time is designed to give the industry and the CPSC time to find common ground on how best to enforce the lead limits, particularly as the regulatory landscape continues to shift with the new administration, Burns said.
In addition, the CPSC confirmed that a petition from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) for an emergency stay of enforcement of the new tracking label mandate in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act was denied in a 1-1 vote last night. As a result, the labeling requirements will go in to effect on August 14th as prescribed by the CPSIA.
